All you have to do is look at a map of where public lands are to see this idea (of opening public lands for housing) will not work. It's in the middle of nowhere, not where the jobs are<p>A better idea is to build upwards, not outwards
The obvious solution here is high speed rail.<p>For example the distance from San Francisco to Sacramento is only 90 miles.<p>Using our archaic excuses for public transportation this takes over 2 hours.<p>It's well within possibly to get this done to 30 minutes considering many high trains go well over 200 miles an hour.<p>Even a 1 hour train ride allows working class people to commute in easily.<p>Now imagine high speed rail going to towns which already have plenty of housing stock.